Palestinian 'smugglers' get 15 minutes, then house blows up

Everyone in Rafah is dreading a call from Abu Nimr. It could come at any time but it normally means the recipient has 30 minutes to evacuate his house before it is blown up. Abu Nimr has been busy. Last week he called five households in Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt. The families fled their homes in time to see them destroyed by two or three missiles. Abu Nimr tells those he calls that he is a representative of Israeli military intelligence and he knows their house hides the entrance to a smuggling tunnel. Normally he says they have 15 minutes to get out, but he's a reasonable guy and often holds off for 30 minutes. After each attack last week, the Israeli army issued a statement. "The attack was based on specific intelligence information," it said, adding that it had "warned the population not to stay in structures that are used by terrorist organizations for storing weaponry." It is not always possible to believe Israeli army statements, but in this case they appear to be accurate. There have been disputes between neighbors over the tunnels and in one case a gun battle between Palestinian police and a family believed to have been digging one. Sami Shaher,46, was rebuilding his house 55 yards from the border after it was destroyed by the Israeli army in 2002. He said he received a call at 10:30pm on Sept. 27 from Abu Nimr. Thirty minutes later his unfinished house was blown up, leaving a crater 22 yards wide and 22 yards deep. A 14-year-old girl was killed by flying debris. There was no visible evidence of a tunnel. Further west in the Yibna area of Rafah, women were salvaging belongings from the wreckage of a three-storey building that was home to five families. Abdul Karime Breakah, 28, said his brother was contacted by Abu Nimr the next morning. Both Breakah and Shaher said they were aware of tunnels being dug in their area but denied they were in their homes.